Many situations require that an outside gate or other opening be locked for safety and other reasons such as security. In many instances the locks are exposed to the weather and may freeze or corrode. One solution has been to apply heat to the lock to unfreeze or free the lock. In an emergency the time taken to free the frozen or corroded lock may be the difference between life and death. In the past this problem has been resolved in some cases by building an expensive shelter to protect the locks. Many times it is necessary to secure a gate or other opening in a remote or temporary location and due to the expense involved it is not practical to construct a shelter. One solution that attempts to resolve the problem is U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,028. U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,028 claims a padlock protector in which the container for the padlock has a moisture proof seal however, the protector may allow moisture to enter at openings where the lockable loop or hasp enters the protector. In addition the protector has a drain aperture that will allow moist air to enter thereby defeating the moisture proof seal feature. U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,028 also references several other U.S. patents and provides a detailed summary of each. None of the referenced patent summaries either separately or in combination recites the features of the invention I claim.
My invention provides a truly weatherproof padlock enclosure.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an apparatus and method to enclose one or more padlocks in a weatherproof case and cover.
A further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus and method to enclose one or more padlocks in a case that has a cover that may be easily opened during all types of weather.
Another object of the invention is to provide a weatherproof padlock case and cover that may be easily and economically manufactured.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a weatherproof enclosure to house a plurality of padlocks together with a desiccant to remove any latent moisture.
With these and other objects in view, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of parts set forth in the specification and covered by the claims appended hereto.